The subject matter described herein relates generally to optical fibers.
Optical fibers include a core typically formed from glass or plastic and configured to transmit optical signals therethrough. A cladding surrounds the core. When coupling optical fibers, the cores of each fiber must be aligned to enable the optical signals from a first fiber to be transmitted to a second fiber. Failure to properly align the cores of the fibers may result in an improper transmission of the optical signal from the first optical fiber to the second optical fiber. In particular, portions of the optical signal may not be transmitted from the first optical fiber to the second optical fiber. Improper transmissions between the fibers may result in lost data when transmitting the optical signal.
Conventional optical fibers may utilize ferrules to align the optical fibers. Other optical fibers use V-grooves structures to align the optical fibers. Alternatively, some optical fibers may include a coupling mechanism within the cladding of the fibers. However, conventional optical fibers are not without their disadvantages. In particular, conventional optical fibers are only aligned with respect to the cladding. However, aligning the cladding of two optical fibers may not result in optimal alignment of the cores. For example, the core may not be exactly centrally positioned with respect to the cladding, resulting in misalignment of the cores when the claddings are aligned.
Additionally, some known optical fibers have problems with gaps or spaces between the cores when mating to another optical fiber or electronic component. Having a space between the cores degrades the signal.
A need remains for an optical fiber that provides core-to-core alignment with another fiber.